Rating: 
Summary: ok for a forced read
Review: i had to read this book for freshman honors. it drags a lot, but it has it's moments. the story was unpredictable and the characters were well described. Joe is really cool. I think c. dickens likes to hear himself talk. but, all in all the book is ok. there is a lot worse we could read.
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT READ
Review: Like many of the people who have rated this book, I am reading it for school (over the summer, doesn't that bite?). Anyways, I found this to be a great book. The storyline is fascinating and unpredictible, and the characters are marvously developed. The reason I gave the book only 4 stars, though, is because it is such a long read.
Rating: 
Summary: Have Great Expectations When Reading This Book
Review: This book is perhaps the best work of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens did not write many books in the first person narrative, and in Great Expectations, it is from the narrative of the protagonist named Pip. The book is very interesting and when reading this book, you can expect to be sad, anxious, and moved. Dickens does a great job of combining all the characters together in one plot. The book begins when Pip is young and is met by an escaped convict and the book ends with a happy ending. -jonny
Rating:
Summary: My case speaks for itself
Review: Read the review from the high school student who thinks he's a martian, and I think you'll agree that most of the bozos who give this novel less than five stars are full of snot.
Rating:
Summary: A Close Rival to A Tale Of Two Cities
Review: This book was almost as good as A Tale of Two Cities (I read the two Back to Back.) It is a well done Dickens-style (obviously) story of a young boy raised in a poor environment by his sister--his only living relative--and her husband, a blacksmith named Joe. After visiting a very rich and eccentric woman by the name of Miss Havisham, the young boy named Pip is approached by a lawyer and is told he has "great expectations." And that he is to move to London to be bread as a gentleman, when after a certain period he is to inherit a large sum of money. The story goes on to London where he is brought up, and leads to some very interesting twists. The tale is well told, and enjoyable if you are fond of Dickens (while I appriciate Dickens.. I admittedly do not like "A Christmas Carol," so keep in mind that if that is the only Dickens you have been exposed to, give him a try through one of his major novels.) The character of Pip is a very sympathetic one, and his faults are all to scarily human. This novel covers great, surprise, assumption, and other noteworthy themes. A good classic read.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Worldwide Classic
Review: Reaching deep into himself, Dickens created this novel of moral exploration, high comedy, and page-turning narrative power. Pip, an orphan raised by his bullying siter and her sweet-naured blacksmith husband, discovers one day that he has a mysterious benefactor. The good-hearted Pip suddenly has "great expectations" of his life and begins to reject spiritual values for materialistic ones. Depspite his financial windfall, things don't go well for Pip. Estella, the beautiful but haughty young woman he loves, coldheartedly tortures him. And then there is the reappearance of Magwitch, the escaped convict who forced Pip to steal for him when Pip was a young boy. While Pip's maturation and moral education forms the heart of novel with his usual array of unforgettable characters, such as Miss Havisham, Joe Gargery, Jaggers, and of course Pip. Great Expectations represents one of Dicken's greatest triumphs. It manages to be both funny and moving.
Rating: 
Summary: Bob Foofoo's Constructive cuisine corner
Review: On my home planet of Mars, books that we do not enjoy, we refer to as lunch. We had "Great Expectations" before the matinee last week. The matinee was "Smoky the Cowhorse." It was Martian Thanksgiving, so "Awful (great (yeah right!)) Expectations" was a good choice, because it is so freakin' long, and low in cholesterol. I am on a strictly bad classics diet. The Martian Major Leagues starts today, so I grilled a warthog. One of the reasons that I found this book (in terms of literature, not food) so disturbing is because the Martian term for a hemmohroid is a pip. In terms of food, it could have used a bit more seasoning, like a trip to Denmark. Of course, they didn't actually go to Denmark. If instead of being named "Magwitch" the convict had been called Bozo the Clown, and gave Pip balloon animals instead of money, I would have enjoyed the book much more. But, the thing that ticked me off the most (and Auntie, too!) was the way that Dickens never ended his sentences: instead, he just ran them on and on and on and on and punctuated them only with commas and semicolons, as if to say, "this is my book, feel free to fall asleep; or, you could eat it": that reminds me of a very funny story about a man named "Kitty"... WHACK! (Auntie just hit me over my other head with a frying pan). The truth is... the only good part about this book is when Miss Havisham (the Martian) gets married to Pip. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! HA. Ha.
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: I hated a Tale of Two Cities but I loved this novel. This typical Dickens, great characters, several plot twists, and a lot of description. For any one who has read everything by Dickens, I'd suggest "Titus Groan" and its follow up "Gormenghast" by Mervyn Peake. They are fantasy novels but are extremely Dickinsian (though original enough to keep from being derisive) and in my opinion equal to any thing Dickins wrote and in better prose.
Rating:
Summary: Read it - even if you've seen the movie
Review: I know lots of people will flay me for saying this, but this book has a lot of repeat value. I could read it every year, for five years at least without getting bored doing it. I had read the abridged version in school, and a year ago i had seen the movie (featuring gweneth paltrow and ethan hawke). I liked these so much that inspite of knowing the story i bought the unabidged version and was plesantly surprised how much i enjoyed it. Both the movie and the abridged version concentrate only with Pip's relation with estella. The book is infact much wider in its scope. For example Pip's relation with Mr.Pocket fills more pages than that with estella. Charles dickens surely spins a superb yarn of pip, his ambitions, desires, weaknesses, and pureness of character which is so entirely credible and believeable that it seems like an autobiographical account told in the third person. This inspite of the novel containing eccentric characters like miss havisham difficult to find in actuality. Another important contribution of this novel is to portray the relation between pip and estella. Its extremely difficult to say what exactly it is. Infatuation? No. It was the very soul of his existance without which he could not exist. It lasted from childhood till the end. Love? Unlikely. He was torturing himself in her company and this can hardly be called love. Hatred? No. Vengence? No. On miss havisham's part maybe but not on that of pip or estella. There's no answer forthcoming. Just when we thought we were intelligent and mature enough to understand relationships Mr. Dickens comes along to tell us to start from kindergarten once again. I found Mr. Dickens style of writing quite modern. Of course there's an influence of the times he lived in but the novel has a very modern tang. In fact if the means of transport were cars instead of horses, there was electricity instead of candle light and so on, making only such cosmetic changes the novel would definitely seem to be written very recently. I just realised - the movie proves this.
Rating:
Summary: This was a book with many surprising outcomes.
Review: This book was not as interesting as some other books that I have read. Some of the chapters were confusing and is in need of some clarification. But then again, there are many unseen connections that are made. But overall, it was interesting and much like a soap opera with some dull moments.
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